Archive for » January, 2012 «

I don’t know what’s in the air but it’s something that’s caused a bunch of people to want to tailgate you, then zoom around you as if they’re driving to a fire. This doesn’t seem to be limited to just men/woman/cars/trucks. I’ve seen a wide variety of people on this tangent to get where they want to go…and it seems to happen no matter the time of day.

What irks me the most is when I’m in the slow lane – the slow lane, mind you – and someone swerves out from the fast lane to go around someone and then comes barreling up behind me. Then the tailgating starts – of my car. I’m minding my own business in the SLOW lane, and these idiots think that I’m going to speed up so they can squeeze their car between mine and the car they are trying to pass in the fast lane.

As I was driving to work today, this happened twice. In a strange moment, I remembered a song from the 70’s by Mac Davis (and my friends from Buena High class of ’79 may recognize this song).

You’ve got to stop and smell the rosesYou’ve got to count your many blessings everyday You’re gonna find your way to heaven is a rough and rocky road If you don’t stop and smell the roses along the way

I wonder if these people have any clue what they’re missing? Couldn’t they leave a few minutes early to avoid driving like a maniac? Do they not realize they are putting other people in danger when they drive like this? Do they not want to see the blue sky, the beautiful trees, the ocean waves, etc. I just shake my head in disbelief.

The rude awakening is that I used to be one of those people. I had to race to here and race to there. In fact, I realized, I was behind the wheel of the car … racing through life. As I have gotten older and (hopefully) wiser, I realized that it’s just not that important. If I need to get somewhere, I either make time for the drive with various scenarios, or I let it go and arrive late. (I used to be fanatic about being on time so going slow is a big change.) I now want to stop and smell the roses no matter what I do. As the song says, the way to heaven is a rough and rocky road and driving faster might get you there sooner than you think!

It’s 19 degrees here today in the North Georgia Mountains. While it is winter, this is the time of year where our temperatures bounce all around – from in the teens to the low 60’s. It makes for a rather interesting time trying to pick a wardrobe.

As I was coming back from lunch today, while the cold air was blowing, there was a bird perched on top of a hedge. I was just awestruck that this little bird was out braving the elements with only his little coat of fur. My first inclination was to pick him up and take him into the office. (You know me and animals.) But I just let him be.

Seeing that little bird made me think of two things:

1. How lucky we are to live in a world with little birds. They flit about, chirping, showing us that there is still some peace to be found in a rather rugged existence.

2. How small my problems really are. If this little bird – sitting in the cold – can tough out the harsh weather, then I can certainly suck it up and get past the little things (like my house not being spotless clean) that seem to bother me.

If you really turn inward, you can find that things are never as they seem and what you haven’t seen will have a major impact.

For the past few months, I have been putting my blogging on hold pretty much because I was … well … just sick of it. No one was really reading it and I felt that it was just a waste of my time. Plus, I didn’t feel I really had anything important say. (Pity…Party of 1)

However, something changed in the past week. I now feel a little clearer on what I have to say and why it’s important that I share it with others. My education about life is something that I’m sure can help anyone – either as encouragement to plow on through the tough stuff, or as motivation to get things moving forward. This change is having an effect of what I’m doing in my home.

I have decided to move my office. I did this about 2 years ago – from one smaller bedroom on one side of the house to the largest bedroom (master bedroom) on the other side of the house. (We do not sleep in the master bedroom because it’s just too big. We opt to sleep in the 2nd smaller bedroom we have and it’s much more cozy.)

Moving my office was a mistake for many reasons…too many to go into here. So, I’m moving it back. As part of this process. we are completely updating this bedroom so it’s more in keeping with who I am and how I want to feel when I’m in this room. I was somewhat on the fence about a theme to use (and I’m a huge fan of themes in rooms ). However, as Jeff was removing the carpet tact strips from the floor and we were moving a pile of pictures out of the way, I saw a picture I hadn’t seen in over 8-9 years. There it was, all wrapped in shipping shrink wrap, looking just as wonderful as the day I got it. In one short second, the theme came to me simply because of this one picture. It helped me narrow down what the paint colors will be, what furniture from around the house I’ll put into the room, the accessories I’ll use, etc. It truly got my mind going and gave my heart a warm and fuzzy feeling.

When you’re doing cosmetic renovations, it’s a slow process and it’s sometimes easier just to keep your home undecorated than go to all the trouble of putting up a few things and then taking them all down when you reach that area of the house. That’s what had happened in our home. I realized that when I came across three wind chimes that were still in their boxes. When I found them, I asked Jeff to put up a few hangers in the ceiling and up those wind chimes went. Even though they will never get a cross breeze so they make noise, that wasn’t the point. The point was to get some color and texture against the drab walls in the living room until a time when we can get to updating this portion of the house.

When you go too long without something that makes your heart sing, you can fall into a deep pit of despair – as I had. I have been doing the same thing everyday: getting up, going to work, coming home, watching TV, and going to bed. I now see the other end of this long road.

It’s funny how something as simple as a picture was waiting patiently in the wings for me to uncover it’s wonder. Thank goodness I did.